A$AP Rocky opens up about the unexpected person who helped set him on the path to a life-changing romance with Rihanna, his mother.
During a recent appearance on the January 15 episode of pop transmissionThe rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, revealed that his mother, Renee Black, was the first to suggest that he should date the global superstar long before their friendship turned romantic.
Looking back, A$AP shared that his mother was surprisingly direct about it.
“My mom used to say things like, ‘I know you like this girl you’re with now,’” he recalled, adding that she would then say, “’But I love you with Riri.’”
At the time, he brushed it off and insisted they were just friends.
“‘Mom, why do you keep saying that? That girl doesn’t even love me like that. Be cool, Mom. Like she’s just my friend. Relax,'” he recalled telling her.
But his mother didn’t back down. “’I’m telling you, she’s real,’” A$AP said, before adding with a smile, “And mothers know best.”
Their bond eventually blossomed into a romantic relationship in late 2019, and A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have since started a family together.
The couple now share three children: RZA, 3, Riot, 2, and Rocki, who is just three months old.
For A$AP, connection has always been natural, even inevitable.
“It was like we were on the same page,” he explained. “I was born the same year. My dad is from his country. My family, when I go back, I can see both sides of my family. There are so many similarities, it’s just funny. We laugh a lot about it.”
Even before romance came into the picture, she admitted there was always something special there.
“She was always my friend, you know what I’m saying?” said. “Like I’ve always fucked with her.”
Still, A$AP believes the moment was important.
“I’m grateful that she was in my life at that time,” he shared, explaining that neither of them were ready before.
Rihanna echoed that sentiment and later said that the pandemic played a role in accelerating their relationship. “COVID accelerated our relationship,” she told Interview magazine in 2024. “There was no denying it… It just happened.”
In the end, it seems that his mother saw the love story coming long before either of them.
